The Development of a Sustainable Quality Management Framework for Libyan Higher Education System

An increasing interest in implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Higher Education Sector has been observed over the past decade. However, TQM sustainability is one of the major challenges facing this task. In this context, experts have emphasised on the need for understanding the synergies between TQM and sustainability models. The topic "Sustainable Quality Management"(SQM) explored through this research is an evolutionary future-oriented concept that is synonymous with "Sustainable TQM". This paradigm aims to integrate TQM with economic, environmental, and social an aspect which is commonly referred as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The aim of this study was the development and evaluation of a framework for SQM in the Higher Education Sector with a particular focus on the Libyan system. A sequential exploratory design was adopted to achieve this objective that involved quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods techniques. Through a review of key literature Eight Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and 72 Quality Action Programs (QAPs) concerning SQM were identified. Also, the links between the design criteria adopted by TQM models (Deming, PDSA, and EFQM) and Sustainability models (TBL and Five Capitals). These links were analysed in the cultural context of the Arab and Libyan Higher Education System, and five types of QAPs implementation gaps visible in the Libyan Higher Education System were evaluated. Through a structured questionnaire comprising 72 questions on various QAPs, responses collected from 678 academic and non- academic staff of two Libyan Universities, National Quality Centre and the Education Ministry were statistically analysed for trends and significant differences among the 26 groups classified for the study. These results were combined with 31semi - structured interviews that portrayed opinions of the Libyan Higher Education experts, using mixed methods techniques. This study identified several environmental and ethical QAPs that are relevant to be applied through TQM models in the TBL perspective of University campuses. In general, low levels of implementation of SQM QAPs was observed in Libyan Higher Education System due to lack of awareness, inadequate knowledge of quality management tools and techniques, the absence of quality training, incompetence towards evolving SQM policies and strategies and lack of measurement of key results. The thesis concludes with the SQM framework for steering the leadership of the Libyan Higher Education System towards improved sustainable quality standards and associated policy and strategy.Libyan Embassy London – Cultural Affair

Uncovering the practices of continuous improvement in local government

Continuous improvement (CI) is an important methodology adopted by the public sector, including local government, to drive process efficiencies and outcome effectiveness, often in response to financial pressures and increased customer demands driven by both state and federal governments (Burgess & Radnor 2012; Pedersen 2011; Radnor, Z. 2010; Rashman & Radnor 2005; Suarez Barraza et al. 2009). Moreover, the adoption of neoliberal policies to drive such imperatives has resulted in CI being enacted in ways that are often removed from the practice traditions presented by the early quality theorists of Crosby, Juran, Deming and Imai. The decontextualised approach to CI has seen the implementation of a range of quality frameworks, such as Australian Business Excellence or Lean Thinking, being implemented. The introduction and adoption of such frameworks has often been met with cynicism and caution by both CI practitioners and staff, as organisations have not always achieved the sought after gains frequently promised. For local government, CI practices have come to mean the application of a narrow range of tools. Most recently, the traditions, practices and frameworks which have been the foci on improvement have shifted to see the implementation of yet a new framework, which in the context of NSW local government has come to be known as service reviews (see for example: Pepper et al. 2021; University of Technology 2020, 2021) as the gold standard that has worked to reconfigure how CI is enacted within the NSW local government. This research explores ways in which, for NSW local government contexts, the fundamental activity and CI practice of problem definition could be reconfigured in ways which bring it closer to practice traditions of seminal theorists such as Deming and Imai. In this thesis the literatures of action learning sets (Anderson and Thorpe 2004; Bird and Duffy 2021; Norman 2016) and CI are brought together to foreground problem definition statements, action and critical reflection and the essential nature of these in the day-to-day enactment of CI practice within NSW local government (see for example Crosby 1989; Deming 1986; Ghobadian and Speller 1994; Imai 1986; Juran 1995). Through the introduction of action learning set practices at a number of NSW local government sites, this research has foregrounded the relational complexity of CI that enacted neoliberalist policies have ignored. In bringing workers together to enact practices of problem definition, action and reflection, the Action Learning Sets (ALS) have emerged as sites where it is possible to reinstate or indeed reinvigorate the lost practice traditions of CI

Exploring the implementation of total quality management in Saudi Arabia

The study explores the implementation of Total Quality Management in Saudi Arabia. Particularly, it investigates the factors affecting the implementation of TQM in the educational sector, ‘the Ministry of Education’, to fill a gap of knowledge in the previous literature. These factors are related to the organisational culture in the country. The thesis studies these factors and their relevance in affecting the implementation of TQM. This study aims to explore the nature of the relationship between Total Quality Management and Organisational culture. The first objective of this thesis is to explore the challenges that facing the education quality management in Saudi Arabia. The second objective is to identify the actions that being taken by the Ministry of Education to introduce TQM to the educational system. Finally, the third objective is to determine the factors affecting the implementation of Total Quality Management in the educational system in Saudi Arabia.Collecting data was via semi-structured interviews as the methodology is qualitative to provide an in-depth understanding of phenomena. Forty employees in the ministry were interviewed who had worked for the ministry for more than five years, so they understood the quality of educational system in the country. The main themes in the findings were identified by analysing them thematically using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) inductive approach.Regarding the first objective of this research, the findings illustrate the weakness of quality in the educational system in Saudi Arabia, which the interviewees ascribe to some issues such as weak pre-service training, lack of professionalism, misuse of performance evaluation, inconsistent standards of rewards and punishments. In addition, findings show that there are other issues with the quality of education related to school resources and the availability of materials, curriculum, and the centralisation in the system of the Ministry of Education. In regard to the second objective of this research, the findings show that the Ministry of Education has taken some important steps to raise the level of quality by establishing the Total Quality Management Department which has top-level support from the minister. Moreover, there are new programmes and trends made by the ministry such as new curricula, decentralisation, and teachers’ efforts to provide careers guidance. Regarding the third objective of this study, the findings illustrate that there are some obstacles facing the implementation of Total Quality Management in the educational system in Saudi Arabia. Training employees of the ministry and spreading the culture of TQM is facing issues such as insufficient training courses, unqualified trainers, access issues and lack of benefit from those training programmes. Cultural resistance from some parents and principals plays an important role hindering implementation of change. The findings of this study also show that the participation of the staff is not enough, whether they are teachers, principals or members of educational departments.This study contributes knowledge at both practical and academic levels. At practical level, it offers has pointed recommendations for the ministry’s top management to increase the awareness of TQM importance in regard to improving the quality of educational system and to reach the maximum benefits to the employees and students. On the academic level, as this study gives insights regarding TQM implementation and an understanding of the nature of the TQM application process and the challenges that face its implementation. It contributes to knowledge of TQM by providing empirical evidence that may assist practitioners in the Arab context to improve TQM

Empirical Survey Regarding the Quality Costs in the Romanian Services Companies

Nowadays we notice that the services companies represent an important percentage in the economics of many countries. Considering their characteristics, these companies represent a challenge for the deployment of the cost accounting and consequently for the computation of the quality costs. In order to validate the theoretical studies concerning the quality costs, we made an empirical survey on a sample of Romanian services companies in the time range August – December 2008. Using the data obtained we reached the conclusion that the information concerning the quality costs are generated by the financial-accounting department and the time range in which the information concerning the costs computation is shorter for the bigger organizations. This information is used at all the levels of management of the companies.quality costs, empirical survey, services company, managerial accounting, analysis

The enhancement of quality education using self-assessment strategies in the Zambezi region of Namibia

This sequential explorative mixed methods study aims to explore how selfassessment strategies can be used to enhance quality education in schools in the Zambezi region of Namibia. The researcher posits that teachers are key in enhancing quality education if accorded appropriate recourses to innovate and explore the use of self-assessment strategies in schools. A pragmatic research approach was used to guide this sequential explorative mixed methods study. The study sought participants’ perceptions on four sub-problems of the study: What entails quality and quality education? How can self-assessment strategies be linked to quality and quality education in general terms? What recourses are available to ensure that quality education is realised by the use of self-assessment strategies in the Zambezi region? How can self-assessment strategy models be developed to enhance the quality of education in the Zambezi region? Purposefully sampled school principals and heads of departments of five combined schools participated in the study. During the first phase, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the five participating school principals while the HoDs were engaged in a focus group interview. The qualitative data was later used to inform the design of the second phase of the study (quantitative). In the second phase, fifty-four teachers completed Likert-scale questionnaires which were analysed using IBM SPSS.19 and Microsoft Excel to compare with the qualitative data. This study revealed that schools have common understandings of quality and quality education albeit defined differently. The study also revealed that external professional support is inadequate to support teachers in continuous professional development activities. Furthermore, the study showed that the available recourses are seldom utilised to enhance quality education in schools. Finally, the study revealed that the use of one type of teacher self-evaluation (TSE) deprives innovative teachers from initiating and exploring other viable self-assessment strategies. Therefore, this study propagates the use of alternative self-assessment strategies that can contribute towards the enhancement of quality education in schools in the Zambezi region of Namibia.Educational Leadership and ManagementD. Ed

Supporting open innovation with the use of a balanced scorecard approach: a study on deep smarts and effective knowledge transfer to SMEs

This study aims to develop the theory of knowledge management and organizational performance within a small and medium enterprise (SME) context using action research (AR) involving a higher education institution (HEI) and an SME. The vehicle for the knowledge exchange was Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), the United Kingdom’s primary mechanism for delivering government funded knowledge transfer to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). KTPs facilitate knowledge exchange from HEIs to SMEs via the recruitment of a graduate plus an academic supervisor from the partnering HEI. The AR study was an award-winning KTP and the project deliverable included the implementation of a balanced scorecard for the SME to improve organizational performance. The transfer of knowledge was subsequently fed-back into the university in order to develop a performance framework for measuring the effectiveness of KTP research within the HEI in order to share knowledge and improve effective for other KTP projects

Quality issues in post-16 education and training: Perceptions of the impact of quality systems on teachers

The primary emphasis of this thesis is on the potential impact of quality systems on teaching staff and post — 16 education institutions as a whole, with a particular focus on Further Education, the author's area of work. A further emphasis is on the process that attempts to measure quality and an analysis is made of quality systems and various quality models adopted by educational organisations. The variety of quality systems introduced into organisations to promote quality is examined and investigated including the OfSTED/ALI Common Inspection Framework (CIF), Investors in People (liP), the ISO 9000 series, Total Quality Management (TQM), Excellence for Quality Model (EFQM), the National Health Service Commission for Health Improvement and the Self Assessment process. There is a particular focus on the factors that can affect the quality of provision. Broad contextual issues are discussed, particularly the unique, historical background of Further Education and the associated ideological questions that arise in response to this focus. There is recognition within the research and the literature of both external and internal pressures on education and training organisations within the sector from systems that are designed to promote quality. The thesis explores the effect of different systems on individuals within a range of organisations. The research focuses on eight teachers in the post-16 sector who explore the impact of quality systems in their organisations and their perceptions of the effect on themselves and their colleagues. Issues relating to the impact of quality systems on staff are identified; the relationship between the intended and the actual effect of the systems are discussed and ways forward to improve quality in the sector are suggested and explored